The general field of the invention is the treatment of illnesses and diseases of the blood and/or body organs by the application of the combination of hyperoxygenation and hyperthermia. The invention is a new apparatus that 1) aids medical research, 2) kills viruses and disease organisms in the blood and 3) purifies stored blood supplies and contaminated blood by the application of hyperoxygenation and hyperthermia to kill pathogens or other harmful cells therein. In this specification, the word “pathogen” refers generally to viruses, bacteria or other microorganisms in the blood capable of causing disease or other health problems. “Harmful cells” includes cancer cells, or other harmful organisms.
Although devices have been devised which can warm or oxygenate the blood for specific tasks, such as to maintain sufficient oxygen in the blood and vital functions to support the life of a patient undergoing open heart surgery or to help warm the patient by the use of warmed blood, at present, no prior art methods or devices suitable to perform the functions of this invention are known to exist to treat and purify blood or stored blood supplies sufficiently to kill pathogens or cancer cells. The difficulty of treating people infected with viruses or who have cancer is well-known. Viruses are notoriously difficult to kill in the body using current medical practices. Likewise, cancer cells have many of the same biological characteristics of other cells in the host body. As a result, what kills the cancer cells may equally kill the patient. Much of cancer research has focused on treating the condition without killing the patient. As a result, much of cancer treatment includes the identification of ways to kill the cancer cells or viruses that minimize harmful effects to the patient.
Devices known to heat and oxygenate the blood are not capable of heating or oxygenating all of the blood sufficiently to kill all of the pathogens or cancer cells in the blood. That is to say, nothing in these devices evidences an ability to raise every portion of the blood passing through the devices to a desired, therapeutic homogenous temperature or to diffuse a sufficient amount of oxygen or ozone into every portion of the blood sufficiently to kill pathogens or harmful cells in the blood. Since these pathogens and cancer cells are capable of reproducing, any device not able to kill all such pathogens and harmful cells cannot be seen to “treat” the blood or the patient. In current devices, pathogens or cancer cells not subjected to sufficient heat or oxygen to kill them simply reproduce. The patient remains ill and affected. In order for a hyperoxygenation/hyperthermia device to function as a treatment device, the flow of blood through the device must ensure all of the blood is subjected to sufficient heat and oxygen levels to kill pathogens and harmful cells. To protect the integrity of blood components and minimize damage to same, among other things, this requires the prevention of eddies or turbulence in the flow of blood, since these flow elements can retain disease-carrying blood that does not pass through the heating or oxygenation elements of the device for the same amount of time as other parts of the flow of blood. Alternately, eddies and turbulence can result in portions of the blood flow remaining too long in the presence of the heating element, resulting in the killing of beneficial blood components.
In the past, hyperthermia and hyperoxygenation have separately been used successfully by medical practitioners and researchers to kill pathogens and harmful cells in the blood. Numerous references cited in the medical field describe the separate use of each of these treatment methods with some success. For various reasons, researchers have been unwilling or unable to perform these treatment methodologies together on patients. This invention allows dual operation of these techniques in a single apparatus in which the flow of blood is sufficiently linear so as to ensure the thorough application of heat and ozone evenly and homogenously to all blood components in the blood flow within the system.
In addition, this invention is a new method for treating patients more safely than using radiation or chemotherapy protocols currently in use and without the undesirable side effects of either. Further, this treatment method is capable of being used in facilities other than hospitals, helping providers control costs while increasing convenience to and comfort of patients. Due to the simplicity, compact design and portability of this invention, treatment may be performed in ambulatory surgical centers, doctors' offices or in the patient's home or other beneficial environments including blood storage units
The invention is also a valuable tool suitable for use in medical research combining two known procedures, hyperthermia and hyperoxygenation, in a single delivery device to be used to sterilize human blood to increase the overall potential medical blood supply. With repeated use, the invention may be shown to have a beneficial effect on certain body organs and glands infected with harmful infectious organisms and diseases by its ability to reduce the overall level of infection or disease in the patient. The apparatus is much needed in medical research to determine the beneficial effects of the combination of hyperthermia and hyperoxygenation techniques and treatments, especially on certain types of cancers and blood related diseases.
The device is a helpful research and operational tool to determine the beneficial extent of the combination of hyperoxygenation and hyperthermia to improve erythrocytic metabolism and the reactivity of the immune system with negligible cell damage.